In 2013, Mony’s became the Funk Zone’s go-to spot for hungry folks craving home-cooked authentic Mexican dishes created by Monica “Mony” Diaz. A native of Colima, Mexico, where she started cooking as a child, Diaz brought her handcrafted seasonings and family recipes to Santa Barbara first in a popular food truck and then to their hole-in-the-wall joint on Anacapa Street, around the corner from the neighborhood’s many tasting rooms.
“We try to bring to the menu comfort food that can transport you back to your abuela’s kitchen or introduce you to a cuisine that is often overlooked,” explained Mony’s son Carlos Diaz, the operations manager. “Mony herself has been cooking for the past 20 plus years, but she takes a lot of her recipes from all the women in her life, like her mother, Alida, and mother-in-law, Genoveva, who have passed on the recipes from their families on to her.”
After hooking Santa Barbarans up with this homestyle fare during breakfast and lunch hours for nearly a decade, Mony’s is now thankfully answering the question we’ve all been thinking: Why isn’t abuela’s kitchen open for dinner as well?